As a long time FPS PC fan and xbox FPS fan I noticed Serious Sam 1 on a website *dun remember which one* but anyway, so I got intrested and bought it. Played it, fell in love with it. I mean...sure it's pointless non stop horde killing but its ultra fun and what's good about and intresting about Serious Sam that its not ONLY about shooting all the time but it has an actual story that gets intresting and as you go on... So I beat the game and I say wow this is a very unique FPS then I bought the Xbox Pack that contained Serious Sam 1 and Serious Sam the 2nd Encounter. Personnaly I was a nub back then and thought that Serious Sam 2nd Encounter was a sequel but apprently it was an expansion pack. With 2nd encounter containing new beautifull enviorments and whacky enemies. Personnaly my favorite enemies from the old Serious Sam games were The Charging Bulls, Behead Kamikaze and the Pumpkin chainsaw guys. Those were very innovatie enemies and very fun to kill! So 2nd encounter finished it loved it etc...then I said to myself is Serious Sam Stone dead? Hell no! 3 years later Serious Sam 2 (Actual Sequel) comes out October 12th 2005. I began playing the game and it had the alot of similar stuff in it that Serious Sam 1 and the others had. I was very glad that some enemies made a return like the Kamikaze Beheads, Lizards, Kleers, Scorpions, and some others. New enemies like the Zombie Stockbroker and the Kung Fu Martial Art Zombie own! Very fun too kill and also the badass strawbery short cake kamikaze clowns! Thats just awesome! But few things pissed me in Serious Sam 2, 1st what the hell did you guys do with the awesome charging bulls? You turned them into Toy Rihnos? I mean...thats just stupid They are not fun anymore and are very boring to kill I was expecting to see a new graphical beautifull charging bull...but a toy rihno...ewww...blah... The 2nd issue are some of the levels.....like the where your in the wood...and you climb up the tops I belive its called Branchest...i mean thats not serious sam anymore The MOST similiar/familiar level you guys have in Serious Sam 2 for Serious Sam 1 is the Sewer level. Once I got into that level I rememberd the old Serious Sam days...sewers...and that whole atmosphere where you were always inside some pyramids and historical enviorments and i really like this level is gorgeous and has dynamic lighting and nice gfx. The levels like the jungle is actually pretty cool but a level where your in the Giant world? Where everything was huge just didnt fit the game Sorry to say this... Anyway I enjoyed Serious Sam 2 very much and it became a instant Top PC Games of this year for me.
Also the Bosses fight are pretty cool! Reallyl iked those =D And the humor is also fun but also the Secrets what make this game special too!

+1 - Great gameplay exactly same.
+2 - All the weapons make a return + added a badass plasma gun and a parrot bomb

+3 - Great innovative new enemies from Bomb Clowns to Kung Fu Zombies
+4 - Very Nice Graphics/Engine
+5 - Pretty long game for a horde killing FPS like this 20 hrs of fun
+6 - Awesome secrets!
+7 - Great game package and only for 30$!!!
+8 - This is gonna be a even better game when Serious Editor 2 comes out!

- Points

-1 - Something is missing
-2 - Where are the good old enemies? The charing bull? (Toy Ryhno sucks) And where are the Pumpkin Chainsaw guys

-3 - Need High End PC to handel the engine
-4 - Make the levels abit more...hm...i dunno just something not right about them... (not all of em are bad the China level was awesome and so was the jungle)

-5 - Wheres the Deathmatch Online?
-6 - Music is not that all great Dosent fit the levels that much...

-6 for some real daft and childish enemy designs
+4 for keeping some classic enemies
-8 sound - god, the cannon doesnt barely whimper, old one used to shake the roof on my woofer, neither does the minigun
-9 for bugs
-9 for obvious console features
+10 for vehicles
+6 for levels
-4 for some levels (the swamp ones felt more like Painkiller)
+7 for graphics
-3 for graphics (Even Painkiller and Half Life 2 looked better)
-8 netcode (mega lag on a AMD64, 400Kbit upload with just 3 players? wth? borrow Unreals)

-4 - Make the levels abit more...hm...i dunno just something not right about them...

I'm guessing that they have been downsized for the console gamers. That's the impression I get from various reviews and the demo. The graphics have been improved and are more demanding since FE, SE. But the Xbox is still the same, so something had to shrink to make it fit in it.

But halflife 2 doesn't throw countless enemies at you does it? Besides amazing graphics don't necesarily make a good game (Black&white2 for example was a big dissapointement for taking out the good features from the last game to make better graphics)

i think croteam balanced out the graphics very well. it still looks very nice while there are A LOT of enemies on the screen! imagine f.e.a.r will that much enemies! *omg* that wouldn´t even run on a geforce 7800gtx...

I'm guessing that they have been downsized for the console gamers. That's the impression I get from various reviews and the demo. The graphics have been improved and are more demanding since FE, SE. But the Xbox is still the same, so something had to shrink to make it fit in it.

I hope thats the case, because I agree with this review wholeheartedly... The levels were not what I expected... I'll never forget playing Se for the first time - the big valley & the final level where you had litterally hundreds of enemys at once... Some of SS2's levels leave me thinking "that's it". Hopefully the engine is capable of more than we've seen, and CroTeam can put out either a patch or an expansion pack that is aimed specifically at the PC market, and the better hardware that's out there.

Saying that, the price is right, and co-op is a blast. See you all online

The comments about the graphics.... I'm playing at 1280X1024 with everything at the max on a P4 3.4 with 2GB RAM and an X800 Pro... The graphics are absolutely stunning... Most games go for drab, dark corridor-like enviroments where everything is smeared in blood... CroTeam went for a vivid and bright world (in some cases) that is totally against the mainstream of the doom/hl2/painkiller style... The graphics are the best I've seen in a long time as far as originality, quality and style.